News
‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative underway, but experts warn of difficulties ahead
China’s “One belt, One Road” railway link with Asean has started to materialise as construction in Laos has progressed to more than 10 per cent of the project linking China’s border to Vientiane.However, one expert has warned that the Chinese government’s financial support for the ...
Atul Aneja
Slight delay in Thai high speed rail project due to environmental impact study
Construction work has been delayed until the middle of next month for the initial 3.5-km stretch of the Thai-China high speed railway (HSR) in Thailand’s north-eastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, Bangkok Post daily reported on Thursday.[] The full line will span 873 km, linking Thailand and ...
Strait Times Reporter
Workshop focuses on cross-border cooperation for energy
Policymakers from the Greater-Mekong Subregion (GMS) met their Korean counterparts in Seoul to discuss ways to cooperate in the energy sector amid the increasing need for a stable supply.Keep reading ...
Rachel Lee
Deal on Rohingya repatriation inches forward, but hurdles remain
Myanmar and Bangladesh said Thursday that they had moved one step closer to the possible repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh over the past three months.More than 620,000 Rohingya, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority in Myanmar, have flooded ...
Hannah Beech
What Mekong Delta Communities Can Teach Us About Access to Safe Water
Among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) perhaps no other topic has more of an impact on global progress than water. Water management determines the sustainability of industries, ecosystems, peace, and livelihoods, and critically impacts human health. [] Half of all the bottled water that we sampled in ...
Zita Sebesvari
High-speed Rail Project Will Force Thousands of Lao Families to Relocate
More than 4,400 Lao families are being forced to relocate to make way for the U.S. $6 billion Lao-Chinese high-speed railway whose construction began nearly a year ago as part of a longer rail project that will link China to mainland Southeast Asia, a public ...
Roseanne Gerin
Cambodia-Laos border fisheries management plan aimed to realise a 10% increase in fish stock
Targeting a 10-percent increase in fish abundance in the Mekong and Sekong Rivers by 2021, fisheries experts from Cambodia and Lao PDR shared today the progress in fish monitoring activities that set a baseline, and continued discussions on the formation of a joint fisheries management ...
Mekong River Commission
Proposed cuts in foreign aid could cause malaria resurgence
If U.S. President Donald Trump cuts 44% of the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) funding, a significant proportion of the global budget for malaria control, there would be a worldwide resurgence of malaria, British researchers say. [] To date, PMI has allocated over $5 billion to 19 countries ...
Cheryl Platzman Weinstock
Asean rules for Mekong region urged as governments falter
Academics have suggested there should be an international Asean declaration to control and enforce good governance and the protection of human rights in the region. Thai Extra-Territorial Obligations Working Group and Chulalongkorn University held a forum yesterday to determine measures to develop good governance for ...
PRATCH RUJIVANAROM
The data commons: What lies ahead for the Mekong region?
Open data access and sharing in the Mekong is spreading. Open data can increase public participation, aid greater transparency in government, and improve resource governance, city planning or public health monitoring. A number of initiatives, both private sector and civil society, are emerging. However, a ...
Mai Lan
